11/3/06 in Open diary entries

Grandma D. what can I say about her? She was born on Halloween, and we all played that little bit of info up to the hilt because she could be a mean old lady. My dad always said “you know how Salem has the official Salem witch? Well, my mom is the official Salem bitch!” oh yeah. She sure had those moments… but after raising the “D clan” I can’t really blame her!

Again, my dad didn’t know his dad. Seems he only came around every year to get his wife preggers then take off again. Mind you, this was during the depression, and grandma had 7 kids to rise. Sometimes it would get really tough and she would have to foster them out for a month or two while she caught back up.

What I remember most about grandma D is that she was old and short and round! I helped my dad take care of her before her lovely daughter Leah (more on her in a bit) took her to a nursing home in Virginia.

Grandma was a concert pianist and played for the Boston pops once. I really wanted to learn how to play the piano, but she wouldn’t let me touch the damn thing. Meanie!

She lived until she was 100 years old, passed away in her sleep.

Dads’ brothers: well, there is Rich, who used to visit maybe once every five years… he really doesn’t live too far away from where I live now. I really should look him up. I remember he looked just like my dad, only with white white hair. Nice guy, from what I remember.

Then there is John, who lives in TX. I never met the guy, and only recently saw a picture of him when he went to see my dad after his accident. He looks just like the last brother Joe.

Joe, we saw just about every weekend as he lived in New Hampshire, and went camping at the same place as my ‘rents. He was quite the character, and made my dads sense of humor seem very tame by comparison. Nice guy, he passed away a few years ago from a hemorrhagic stroke, most likely caused by an undiagnosed aneurysm.

On to the aunts!
There was Virginia, another one I didn’t know… she passed away when I was either very very young, or before I was born. She was at church, walking down the isle to sit in a pew when she grabbed her head, yelled, and then fell down dead. She was a nurse, and was having some headaches and such but blew them off, said it was the kids, the job, the asshole of a husband (and I’m really glad I never knew him, from the stories) but she had a brain aneurysm. Its amazing how these strange things run in families.

Delores… my favorite auntie of all time. She and my dad were really close, and she would visit as often as she could without bringing her 12 kids along (all adopted). More often than not, we would go to her place in Ipswich because all my parents had to do was bring me lol

She was also a nurse who ignored her own maladies. She was having severe migraines with all the nausea and sensitivities that go along with them before she got up out of bed one morning, grabbed her head, puked, and fell over in a coma from… yeah, a brain aneurysm.
They tried to operate but without success. She was in a coma for a couple of weeks before her husband said “this is wrong” and pulled the plug.

Aunt Leah… well… she took after her mom, really had an attitude problem and no one really cared for her because of it. She would poke you in the stomach, and say “wow! You’re really fat!” while she was stuffing her face.
One time she made my sister cry doing that, and me being like… 8? Said, “If you are worried about fat, maybe you should get in front of the mirror with your husband!” Then she started crying! But, she never said anything like that again.

When my grandma got to the point where the falls were happening every week it seemed she decided it was time for her to take care of her… she shipped grandma down to Virginia, stuck her in a nursing home, and took all her money.

When she started having headaches, she actually went to the doctor, but the aneurysm was inoperable (doesn’t that figure?) and ended up stroking her out. She lived for quite a while, bitter and blind until a heart attack killed her.
I have many many many many cousins on my dads’ side, I haven’t met most of them, and the ones I do know have scattered far and wide.

One of these days, maybe I’ll track some down, and meet for coffee.